Chapter 5: The Beginning- An Unusual Encounter
Standing to her feet after propelling the self proclaimed precious paladin into her tent, Applejack turned to discover a light-blue skinned Pegasus bearing elaborate golden armour, hovering inches in front of her, staring menacingly into her eyes- muzzle to muzzle. Behind said pony were at least a hundred soldiers, one of which- a large rugged stallion, had progressed from the crowd to pin Pinkie Pie against her tent with his weapon, the shining blade unsheathed close to her throat.
“...and, err- what is all this about?” Applejack asked, oblivious to the fact that she could quite easily have her skin handed to her on a silver platter right now.
“Heh!” the Pegasus gloated, “This is my, err- my...”
Rainbow Dash leant over to Twilight, pulling the book away from her face, “what do they call them?” she whispered frantically, nudging an elbow into the book-worm’s side.
“A... company?” Twilight asked.
“Right! So- wait...”
“Heh! This is my ‘company’ of elite troops, each and every one tested through many high-skill demanding events and challenges, only the best of the best make it through into my unit!” The armoured mare claimed.
“...right,” Applejack said, not quite sure where this was going, although the voice... the voice was familiar- somehow, “so, what in Equestria has that got to do with- with anything?” she asked.
“Well, here’s where my narrating skills really do come in handy!” Twilight said in an over-joyous tone, thinking hard for a second before raising a hoof to signal some sort of conclusive idea springing to mind, “so- Rainbow Dash...”
“Rainbow Dash?” the rainbow Pegasus quoted in a displeased tone of voice, “surely that’s a bit boring, it should be something cool like... ‘Super Awesome Commander Rainbow!” Rainbow Dash suggested.
“Fine; Super Commander ...err,” Twilight Sparkle was tangled amidst her own words; “we’ll cut it to Rainbow.” She decided. “Rainbow had been sent into the forest to find and capture a rogue Priestess of the Argent Hammer...”
“A ‘Rogue Priestess?’” Rarity interrupted in horror, “I’d much prefer to be a maverick paladin of holy judgement! Doesn’t that sound so much more... glamorous?”
“Ugh, can we please just let me finish?” a rather frustrated Twilight begged. She continued on with the story once more-
Rainbow had been sent into the forest to find and capture a maverick paladin of holy judgement for her evil ruler!
“Right, err- yeah, what that weird voice in the sky said! So I’m here to... do... that- err...” Rainbow dug deep for a viable statement, “I’m here for that paladin you’ve got hanging around here!”
Rarity, upon realising that she was indeed the pony that the legion was after, tuned in closely to the external conversation.
“And I’ve come to... take her away?” Dash added unconfidently.
Like before, Twilight’s voice punctured through the atmosphere, appearing very loud, similar to lightning, it was like divine intervention, only- for narration purposes, “...to take her away for evil plans!” she insisted.
“Okay...” Super Awesome Commander Rainbow agreed with this mysterious voice that emitted from the clouds.
A silence fell over the forest, the occasional shuffle from a weary hoplite cut the awkward situation behind the hooves of the commander, but otherwise, the distant wildlife was the only sound- the tension in the atmosphere was so thick, it was almost solid.
“Hey, hold on a minute! Am I supposed to be a bad guy in all of this?” The blue Pegasus shouted, looking angrily up to the sky.
Rainbow Dash looked rather shocked at Twilight, as if she had been betrayed.
“...well, seeing as you’re ‘working’ for the antagonist in all of this- that was the idea.”
Dash looked even more shocked than before, “no can do, I am not being evil!” she enforced, “why don’t you take a seat while I tell this part of the story?”
Twilight rolled her eyes, but submitted to her request, handing the book over, allowing her friend to continue on, for better or for worse.
Breaking the un-easy atmosphere, Super Awesome Commander Rainbow (Dash- we get the idea...) turned to her front line of soldiers, hovering down the first line she picked out some figures from the crowd.
“Hey! You there, tell me how awesome I am!” Dash demanded, pointing a hoof at one of the iron clad warriors.
The stallion in question didn’t really know what to do, being put on the spot; he said all he could think of to resolve the problem at hand, “You’re... really awesome?” he said, an element of question apparent in his tone of voice, was this what the commander asked of him?
“Ugh- seriously?” Dash was clearly disappointed, “that wasn’t what you were drilled with, was it!”
“S-sorry com-mander?” the pony began to stutter.
Rainbow held her head in her hooves, “just do the chant,” she sighed in frustration.
“What is that pony up to?” Applejack whispered to Pinkie Pie, both captives confused at what exactly was happening- evil was at their doorstep, yet the commander of such evil was playing around with her troops like they were toy soldiers.
“I don’t know, but this chant is sure to be really catchy!” I do love chanting!” Pinkie replied, bearing no thought to avoid gaining attention.
The stallion began to drone a chant, chanting like it had been repeatedly forced down his ear for every single day of his dull, miserable life, “Rainbow, Rainbow, you’re the best, fight for you, we want nothing less, we are your warriors of unimaginable force, we follow the commandment of the iron horse.”
“That’s it?” Pinkie was displeased at such a boring and unenthusiastic chant, “boring! I don’t get it.”
“Please!” Rainbow shouted into the colt’s ear, “you call that a chant! That was more boring than the discovery channel!”
Fluttershy was now the pony to blame for breaking the role-play immersion, “umm, the discovery channel is very interesting to me...” she said, just loud enough for everypony in the room to hear. She soon began to shrink to the floor when she discovered seven pairs of eyes staring her way, “sorry, umm, you can carry on...if you want.”
“So, err, yeah- you call that a chant! That was indeed more boring than the discovery channel!”
A yellow Pegasus in matching armour to the other soldiers closed her eyes for a second, disagreeing with her leader’s hypothesis.
Commander Rainbow’s face suddenly changed from a look of annoyance to a look of malicious intent, a malevolent grin appearing under her golden visor, “do you know why they gave me the element of loyalty?” she asked rhetorically, “because I’m loyal: loyal to my friends. Now, I don’t care what this role playing is about, but these...” Dash counted the hostages with her hoof, “...three ponies are my friends...”
Twilight interrupted, “fourth wall...” she uttered, showing no signs that she cared any more.
“These ponies are my friends, so this whole evil commander thing can stop right now.” Dash said, throwing her headpiece to the ground in anger.
Shortly after such a speech, the Pegasus hammered the steel helm of the nearest hoplite onto his head, so hard her could not see, nor remove the new metal addition to his cranium.
“She’s a traitor! Get her!” a soldier shouted from the crowd, shaking his pike above him in rage.
Here we go...” the self proclaimed ex commander Dash said, before drawing her silvery swords, breaking out into a sub-scale war with the legion she had previously requisitioned.
Spears flew, swords clashed, shields bashed, a flurry of metal tore through the scene, colts and mares alike fell to the tempest of blades- the rebel Pegasus, aided by her new companions: the tracker Applejack, the paladin Rarity and the...Pinkie Pie.
“Wow Cherilee, I had no idea you were so good at being...well, background characters!” Twilight pointed out.
“It comes naturally to a teacher who plays with her pupils; of course, they always want to be a main character right? Usually an adventurer or- or an evil genius. That leaves me to be all of the background characters- its great, I can easily lead the story from minor roles!”
“You sure are much more experienced than me!” Twilight joked, mocking her inexperience of role playing.
“Yeah, you’re nearly as good as me!” Rainbow Dash said (of course, she wasn't joking.)
“Hey! Is that the end of another chapter?” Pinkie asked enthusiastically.
“I give up.” Twilight stated.
“Why give up Twilight?” Pinkie Pie asked, showing some signs of moral concern.
“I give up on the fourth wall thing- there just is no fourth wall any more for you.”
“I broke the fourth wall?” Pinkie questioned. “Oh- when I asked about the end of the chapter, I meant the game...what did you think I meant?”
“Nothing...”
“Ah, that’s good, because I doubt any of the readers will know what were on about if we carry on talking random things!”
“PINKIE!”